Powderpuff && Dodge ball

SGU IEA hosted a Powderpuff football tournament for the first time this term- so naturally Nick's foobtall team (and their fabulous cheerleaders) had to put together a team! We had SO many players that we actually ended up being forced into breaking it up into 2 teams! At first we were bummed that we had to split up our fabulous gang, but in the end it worked out because we were all able to play a lot more this way. We thought the tourney would only last a couple hours and we'd just play a few games... well 8 hours in the beating sun and 6 games later... the tournament was over! Our team played great and went into the finals undefeated but unfortunately lost in the final game.

What an exhausting, but incredibly fun filled day! We had hardly eaten and did not drink nearly enough water (as we didn't expect it to last all day- we were severely unprepared.)  Nick actually ended up super dehydrated and sick (and most likely suffered from hypoglycemic shock) which was horribly scarey! What can I say? Powderpuff is hardcore!!! And... I could literally not move for a week afterward. Go Free Agents (and gals!)

Another fun event was the dodge ball tournament. Nick and the football boys have played in previous terms and have always been competitive, but this term they went in with 2 goals: 1)win the costume contest and 2)win the tournament. Nothing less.

After discussing what their costume should be continuously the week prior- they decided to paint their faces like the KISS Band members and wear white shirts that said "Kiss This" on it. It was pretty cute watching 10 guys carefully painting each others faces before hand. I am happy to report- they successfully accomplished BOTH goals! They won the costume contest AND tournament! It was so, so, so fun and nothing short of ridiculously competitive!

Enthralling Conversation... or not.

It's pretty typical that I still talk to my best friend, Anna, almost every day despite her being in California and well, I am of course on a tiny rock in the middle of the ocean! It's mostly text-chatting via Facebook messager, but "talking" never-the-less!

Had to laugh a minute ago as I realized I had been rambling on about my day for the past 10 (okay, more like 20) minutes and this is what I had to say:

1) Today was AWESOME (overly excited and lots of !!! used in the conversation). Reason- I was able to snag 3 loaves of KISS bread (aka cheap 5.50 EC or approx 2 US $ but yet, GOOD bread.) The most commonly stocked bread here is hard and dry and just iick- I'd rather eat cardboard- literally. I have not been able to purchase KISS bread yet this term and it always comes in on a day other than when the rest of the food comes in (Thurs/Fri)- which is obviously my ONE shopping day of the week. So naturally, upon seeing it, I ran over- willing to headbutt, elbow, or (lets be honest) kill, anyone who dare get in my way. No one did, and the 3 loaves are now mine and 2 are already happily frozen in my freezer. See? I could talk about this for a long time. It was THAT monumental.

2) I am really mad because for the 4th week in a row they do not have my Asian brand, frozen block of chicken in stock and I am pretty sure they are simply not ordering it anymore, which literally DEVASTATES ME! No, this is not me being dramatic. That block of chicken was a lifesaver for us! It is easily the cheapest price for the highest quantity! AND it was surprisingly clean- the new Tyson brand I have to buy needs to be cleaned so much more, they are so much smaller, and cost an arm, leg, and backside to buy!

SO that, is apparently what you will get if you start a conversation with me on Friday. AND that is just the spark-notes version... she's a saint for trying to find my grocery shopping drama entertaining for minutes on end... OR at least pretending and responding with a "oh my gosh!!" "no way?!" or "that's so crazy!" periodically :) What a trooper!

Just a day in the life of- me! Also, as I write this, I am eating a sandwich on this fabulous bread and reminded yet again  that is the small things in life :)

Clinicals, STEP prep, & Stuff

Since we are basically mid-way through 5th term the big topic of conversation lately has been clinicals! At SGU, medical school students do 2 years (5 terms) of basic sciences in Grenada then return to the States for 2 years of clinicals- during which they visit many different areas of the hospital and gain important and necessary hands on experience.  SGU has several affiliated hospitals within the US that students can complete their 2 years of clinicals- the main clinical centers being in New York, California, New Jersey, and DETROIT (there are other placements as well with some being removed/added each term.)

Over the past week there have been numerous meetings and emails sent out regarding this process. I attended a meeting for Nick last week (good ol' SGU scheduling meetings during mid-terms week) and Nick has attended at least 1 other regarding clinical placements and 1 regarding his health verification (ie: does he have all his vaccinations, etc). The way it works through SGU is that they send out a form where each student is able to pick their top 3 clinical placement choices. There is no guarantee students will get their top choices, but the school tries to accommodate and most people we know in terms before us have been fortunate enough to end up in at least 1 of their top 3, and in most cases got their 1st choice! Nick submitted the form on Monday and obviously we are gunning for Detroit!!! It would be so, so, SO nice to be back in good ol' Michigan! Despite Detroit having such a negative stigma attached to it, we know we love it there, already know the area, Nick worked in the St. John's satellite hospital before coming to SGU, and both our families live within 45 minutes of the hospital... so fingers crossed that 2 proud Michiganders get to return home! Our 2nd/3rd choices however, were New York and New Jersey :)

More school news: Nick had mid-terms last week and crushed them! He did absolutely awesome and I am so proud of him! Another extremely successful set of exams in the books and only 2 more rounds of exams to go for basic sciences!!! Even after 5 terms of seeing his hard work firsthand, I am still so impressed by his motivation and dedication to studying and LOVE to see it pay off!

As I've mentioned before- on top of studying for his regular classes, Nick has also already begun to study for the STEP 1 exam that he will be taking in July. His schedule alone for studying for this test is unbelievable!  I've seen others go through it, heard about the intense study schedule for years now, and pretty much know what to expect in terms of knowing he will be locked away in the library for 8 weeks straight, but still seeing it in calendar form was still shocking... it is SO much work! Basically from now to mid-May he will be trying to dedicate 1-2 hours a day to Step preparation, from end of May til TEST DAY he will be dedicating at least 5 hours a day to his study program and then possibly spending another 3-4 hours or so going over areas he knows he needs to work on and doing more questions.  From now until the test he will take approximately 3,818 practice questions!!! Wowzers!!! As of right now- the goal is for him to actually take the test on July 8th (as opposed to July 15th like the calendar below indicates- but you get the general idea!)

So, anyone jealous of Nick's next 5 months?! NOT me!! Michigan friends- get ready to hang out with me- the medschool/step 1 widow- during those gross 8 weeks... oh, and pretty please help me get a job ASAP :)

Want to buy some fish?

Today we had a girl come by to check out our apartment for next term. WEIRD! It was a very bittersweet and kind of sad feeling to be showing her around OUR house and trying to sell her on things, when part of me hasn't even come to term fully that we are leaving in less than 3 months for good... It was cute to see her so excited about the view and how spacious it is here though because I remember feeling the exact same way not too long ago! Time flies!

And... our house is currently spotless because I decided to be nice and not give her a tour of Nick's piles of clothing, notes, and Tupperware containers (okay, okay mom and Nick- AND my bathroom counter clutter)... exam week really does a number on our house. I swear even when I actively try to combat it- the mess still wins! But when I have a reason to be extra on top of things- look at how it manages to work out where a clean house wins... but I digress.

Anyways.. the main point of this post was to post about the highlight of my day which started with a random knock on the door. No one ever knocks on my door. Ever. The lawn people just start their annoying weed whackers and yell and break things anytime they decide they want to. And other maintenance people stand at the windows and yell "HELLO" until I finally realize they are talking to me and answer and other people just decide to lay on my clean laundry on the side of the house out of the sun... so this was a new experience in and of itself... but little did I know just how much excitement stood on the other side of my door....

So obviously I open the door and there I see a man with a bunch of fish strung up on a stick wondering if I wanted to buy some. He was a nice man and didn't push too much, but I pretty much just stood there in shock. First off, it did not look or smell fresh and there had to of been 8 or 9 on the string just chillin. I must have stood there wide eyed trying not to laugh for a good 30 seconds so he took the lead and asked if I knew how to cook fish, I must admit that my response was "not one with skin and eyeballs still." He laughed and walked away muttering "silly white girl can't cook de fish!"

Awesome... I hadn't been the crazy white girl on the street in awhile... And I am absolutely kicking myself for not being even crazier and running to grab my picture of him!

wedding pictures!

We recently got our professional wedding pictures back and so needless to say, I am currently pretty obsessed with them! Our photographer was SO talented and captured our day and so many special moments perfectly! Due to the lack of sunlight on our wedding day- being one of the shortest days of the year- we also added in a Rock the Dress session and boy, am I glad we did! #1 it was so much fun to have an excuse to put my dress back on #2 they turned out a-m-a-z-i-n-g!

Here are just a few of MANY from our special day(s):For more check out our photographer, Marek Dziekonski's Website. Also here are direct links to each of his blog posts with pictures of us:  wedding blog post (lots of pictures!)      Rock the Dress blog post (lots of pictures!)

Orange Juice

When you're sick for more or less a month straight on a small spec of land in the middle of the ocean....you get to splurge at the grocery store and buy orange juice for 21 E.C or approximately 8 US dollars

 And, it's NEVER tasted SO good!

Oh, and when you're married to a medical school student and your kitchen table looks like this for the entire month... you simply eat on top of it or somewhere else... and accept that until all that material is in his brain- that this, is life.

Grenada Sailing Week!

January 31st- February 5th is sailing week here in Grenada. Even before I had heard that this is what was going on, I knew something was up because of all the extra awesome boats that have been sailing by our house on a regular basis for the past day or so. Such a cool part of living right on the ocean!

There have been sailing festivities and races almost every day in honor of sailing week and we saw some of the set up begin for the larger weekend activities while at the beach on Friday. Lots of tents, boats, and hustle 'n bustle! There was just an overall feeling of excitement in the air and you could tell that it was going to be a weekend filled with fun on the beach. 

Since Nick did crew throughout high school, I knew this was up his ally and I hated to see him miss out all together so I gently pushed him into taking a study break for a couple hours to head down and check out the boats! We are only here for a few more months so this isn't something we will get to see again, and I am SO glad we went! Unfortunately, just as soon as I started to walk to the catch the bus, clouds began rolling in super fast, and before I even made it to cover at the bus stop the rain began to fall. Thinking it would be a typical Grenada rain and only last a short while, we proceeded to head to the beach where we eventually came to accept that the rain was not going anywhere. The races continued though and at the end of the day the rain made for a little extra excitement. There were several different food vendors there as well, so we got fish patties and some other local foods to snack on for lunch!

At one point, a boat flipped over and we watched as they struggled to turn it back over before a rescue boat went out to help pull them in.  In a scary change of events, one of the men sailing on the boat got tangled up in one of the boat's ropes and was pulled under water. All of a sudden many other sailors and bystanders were rushing into the water to try and assist- one man even went running into the water with his huge machete prepared to cut him loose. Nick and his friend Minh almost had to break out some Dr. skills and perform CPR but thankfully, once on shore the man began spitting up water and although seemed disoriented, it appeared he was going to be fine.

All in all, it was a fun day and one of the many times that we stop and think to ourselves "wow we really live here!?" It's not every day 2 Michiganders like ourselves can stroll down to the ocean and watch hundreds of boats race and fill the horizon- it was pretty darn cool!